Displaying items by tag: Mobile Apps

Facebook has released a new edition of their application for use on devices based on Android. Unlike previous versions the new is not based on HTML, but a native app for Google's mobile OS. Frank Qixing Du, an engineer on the Facebook for Android team said that “This new release creates a solid foundation for the Facebook for Android app moving forward. The infrastructure in place will let us continue to make the app even faster, smoother, and feature-rich.”

Originally this article was to be a stand alone item to show how the mobile world is catchin up to the desktop. However, now that we have the news of domains being seized that offered pirated versions of Mobile Apps it seems there is certainly a new push to secure this highly profitable sector in play. The company that produced the report (Arxan) is not associated with this push, but timing of the publication of the report is very interesting. So let's take a look at how sad the state of the mobile app market is in terms of securing apps from hacking.

The mobile world has exploded in much the same way that the PC world exploded back in the mid to late 90s. It was a time when everyone was selling cheap computers for the masses. Unfortunately the hardware and software that was being used by everyone was also very open to attack. The thought of malware protection, hardened operating systems and edge protection (in the form of a firewall) were still very new in the consumer market. These things were also still in their infancy in much of the corporate market. Now we are seeing the same thing happening in the mobile world. The introduction of the smart phone and the mobile “app” have created a new offshoot which is still very immature and which due to its rapid growth and perceived security has become a target for malware and piracy, just like the PC did in the 90s.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the web waters… It seems that some enterprising hacking group (as of right now not associated with Anonymous) has decided to break into LinkedIn and grab some passwords. According to reports the data is still in encrypted format, but the group that grabbed them is looking for help decrypting them.